After a few days of nothing going on at the BCB offices, yesterday’s events got some media notice, especially since all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha were there.
Both Shakib and Hathurusingha had not been to Mirpur since the mess in India during the World Cup. Coach Hathurusingha and team head Khaled Mahmud went to turn in their reports on the World Cup. Hathurusingha and Shakib also talked.
“He [Hathurusingha] had already emailed his report on the World Cup.” He came to talk about the team’s plans because he and the rest of the team are leaving for Sylhet today, a BCB person close to the situation told The Daily Star yesterday.
Sources have revealed that the report was sent straight to Nazmul Hassan Papon, head of the BCB. The World Cup mess hadn’t been talked about much yet, and the BCB president’s busy schedule because of the upcoming national elections may have been a reason for that.
A big topic of conversation after the World Cup was how long the head coach would stay in charge. An upcoming board meeting will put light on what’s going on in that area. One person said, “The board makes the choice.” Chairman of Cricket Operations Jalal Yunus, on the other hand, said that the future of any one coach could not be discussed at this time.
Shakib went to the BCB offices for the first time since November 6, when he hurt his finger in Bangladesh’s second-to-last World Cup game against Sri Lanka. This kept him out of the final game against Australia and the home Test series against New Zealand.
A member of BCB’s medical department told The Daily Star, “He (Shakib) came here so that we could change the bandage on his broken finger.”
Shakib is still not sure if he will be able to go on the upcoming tour of New Zealand since he was already ruled out of the Test series at home against New Zealand. His left index finger will be X-rayed in three weeks to see how bad the injury is, but team management sources say that he might not be able to go on December 11, which is when the team is tentatively set to leave for New Zealand.
At the same time, the stability of the teaching team for the Test series has also been a focus since the World Cup. The performance expert Shrinivas Chandrasekaran and the pace bowling coach Allan Donald have already said they will not be going. Rangana Herath’s job as a spin bowling coach ends on November 30. BCB cricket operations sources said that the board would soon decide if Herath’s contract would be extended. The rest of the coaching team should also arrive before the match. In the meantime, both the New Zealand and Bangladesh teams would practise today in Sylhet as they get ready for the first Test.